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First I want to say I am an absolute beginner to this and though I've tried to do some research about it, I wasn't able to take away anything useful.

I want to install Ubuntu onto my Samsung t7 500gb external SSD while also using it as the 'live USB installation media'. I also would like to split the SSD into parts so that I can use a part of it to store files for my Windows OS but that's optional, the priority is to get Ubuntu running on the external SSD without messing with Windows installed on the internal SSD in my laptop. I can't use a pen drive now to create a live USB installer which I can use to install onto the external SSD, that's why I'm trying to use the SSD as the live installer.

I've seen answers suggesting to use Unetbootin to use the internal hard drive as the installation media but I would very much prefer to leave the SSD with Windows installed in it untouched as I don't really know what I'm doing and if something goes wrong I don't want it to screw up my Windows installation. My idea is to split the external SSD into 3 parts (if that's possible); a part which serves as the live USB installation, a part which I can install Ubuntu on, and a part which I can use to store other files as I won't be using all 500gb for Ubuntu. Most guides seem to do something called "shrink volume" in device manager to create unallocated space for installing Ubuntu but that option seems to be greyed out in the external SSD.

Any help is appreciated.

Skawang
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  • If you use grub2's loopmount feature, you can boot ISO from grub. So from within your full install your boot as many ISO as your want or drive can hold. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/ISOBoot more examples https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/ISOBoot/Examples You do need to partition in advance. See: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1296065/dual-booting-w10-ubuntu-with-2-separate-ssds-in-uefi-mode/1296153#1296153 – oldfred Jan 12 '21 at 14:50

1 Answers1

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Install Ubuntu using only an External SSD

Ref: Can Ubuntu be installed to the pendrive it was booted from?

  • Best to unplug the Windows disk before proceeding

  • Divide your SSD into three partitions, Make one FAT32, about 3GB for the installer, make one ext4, about 40GB to 100GB, for Ubuntu and make one NTFS in remaining space for data. Add a 300MB FAT32 EFI partition at the beginning of the disk if your Windows boots in UEFI mode.

  • Use Universal USB Installer to install Ubuntu Live to the 3GB partition on the SSD, See: Can I install ubuntu 20.10 or 20.04LTS on dual boot with windows 10 without USB Drive?

  • Boot Ubuntu Live from the SSD using toram and install Ubuntu to the ext4 partition on the SSD. To ensure compatibility with Windows on your other disk, boot Ubuntu Live in the same BIOS / UEFI mode windows is installed in.

  • Plug in the Windows disk and boot the new Ubuntu install and delete the Live install, then run sudo update-grub to add Windows to Ubuntu's GRUB menu.

C.S.Cameron
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  • Thanks for the answer. A few clarifications: Does Rufus work instead of Universal USB Installer? I've already got it installed and it seems to be detecting the SSD when I check the option. Is this how you boot using toram: https://askubuntu.com/questions/829917/can-i-boot-a-live-usb-fully-to-ram-allowing-me-to-remove-the-disk. Also, sudo update-grub should be run in the Ubuntu terminal after loading it right? – Skawang Jan 12 '21 at 13:30
  • Do I need to unplug/manually remove the Windows disk SSD as a precaution? I'm reluctant as I'd need to open up the laptop for that(which itself requires me buying weird star shaped screw drivers, I've never opened it before), and opening it will void the warranty. Especially if I mess something up. Is there any other way to do this other than manually removing the drive? Sorry for so many questions – Skawang Jan 12 '21 at 13:34
  • edit- I realised opening it alone won't void the warranty, I don't know why I thought it would since people upgrade RAM and storage all the time. So I guess that won't be an issue. So if something goes wrong, I can just unplug the SSD and plugin my Windows disk and everything will be as it was right? – Skawang Jan 12 '21 at 13:48
  • Rufus will overwrite the whole drive, I think only UNetbootin, YUMI and Universal will write to a partition, UNetbootin will not write to a partition on a hard drive, (except in Frugal mode). That method works if booting using GRUB, if BIOS mode with Syslinux, press shift and then ``F6then type a space andtoram`. Right about running in terminal. If you leave the Windows SSD is plugged in just be careful and don't format any partition except the new ext4 and new EFI. you don't need the new EFI if you do not plan on using the SSD on another computer.Install the bootloader on the new SSD. – C.S.Cameron Jan 12 '21 at 13:55
  • Yes to your last comment, makes things simpler and safer. You can't break what isn't there. – C.S.Cameron Jan 12 '21 at 13:58
  • Thanks for the clarification. I have some other doubts in the points too. I want to make sure I understand everything well before I go ahead. Since my Windows SSD already has an EFI partition, I'm guessing the EFI partition in the second point is for booting the Ubuntu system? I found that my SSD is an MBR disk, and this page from Ubuntu documentation :https://help.ubuntu.com/community/DiskSpace says the EFI partition is only needed for GPT disks. So even if I don't make an EFI partition(beforehand or during Ubuntu installation), will I be able to load Ubuntu on this PC and others? – Skawang Jan 12 '21 at 16:20
  • In the 4th point, it says I need to boot Ubuntu in the same BIOS/UEFI mode as my Windows. My Windows boots with UEFI, so will I have to select UEFI as opposed to BIOS at some menu as I boot? I watched a couple of videos of people installing from a USB drive and they didn't come across any menu where they selected UEFI or any other option. I think it was selected by default as UEFI but I'm not sure. If the thread is getting a bit long and you don't mind answering further questions, I can make a separate chat. – Skawang Jan 12 '21 at 16:29
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    If you boot your installer USB in BIOS mode you will install Ubuntu as BIOS mode, if you boot the USB in UEFI mode you will install Ubuntu as BIOS mode. If you want a SSD that will boot on both UEFI and BIOS computers, it is easiest to use a disk image, (except that overwrites everything on the disk), see: https://askubuntu.com/questions/1300454/easy-full-install-usb-that-boots-both-bios-and-uefi – C.S.Cameron Jan 13 '21 at 01:58